Kiekko-Espoo Naiset

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Kiekko-Espoo Naiset
Kiekko-Espoo Naiset
Greatest successes
Club information
history EKS Espoo (1989–1998)
Kiekko-Espoo (1992–1998)
Espoo Blues (1998–2016)
Espoo United (2016–2017)
Espoo Blues Naiset (2017–2019)
Kiekko-Espoo Naiset (since 2019)
Club colors   
league Naisten SM-sarja
Venue Espoo Metro Areena
capacity 7,017 seats
executive Director Emma Terho
Head coach Sami Haapanen
Season 2018/19 1st place, Finnish champion

The Kiekko-Espoo Naiset (previously Espoo Blues Naiset ) are a Finnish women's ice hockey team from Espoo that have played in Finland's highest women's ice hockey league , the Naisten SM-sarja , since 1990 .

history

The beginnings of women's ice hockey in Espoo go back to the mid-1980s when the first women practiced this sport at Karakallion Pallo (KaPa). Later a women's team was founded at Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS Espoo), which in 1990 won the championship of the second division, the Naisten I-Divisioona , and rose to the top division, today's Naisten SM-sarja . In the very first season in this league, the women reached third place in the championship.

For the 1992/93 season, the women's team moved from EKS to Kiekko-Espoo and played mostly in the midfield of SM-sarja in the following years. From 1998 the association was called Espoo Blues, after the color of the city's coat of arms. At the end of the 1998/99 season the Blues celebrated winning the first Finnish (women's) championship in the club's history when Maria Selin scored the decisive goal against the JYP Naiset . This was followed by six more championships in a row in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, as well as four more championship titles from 2006 and 2009. During this time, the Blues took part and achieved a total of six times in the IIHF European Women Champions Cup three times ( 2005 , 2008 and 2010 ) winning the silver medal.

  • Logo 1992 to 1998

  • Logo 1998 to 2003

  • Logo 2003 to 2005

  • Logo 2005 to 2009

  • Logo since 2009

Between 2013 and 2015, the Espoo Blues women's team won three more Finnish championship titles in a row.

During the 2015/16 season, the men's professional club experienced first payment difficulties, as the number of spectators and sponsorships had declined in previous years. At the end of the season, the professional team finished last, then the club went bankrupt due to the high debt burden. As a result of this crisis, Espoo United was founded, a new club that set up a team in the Mestis and also took over the women's team. From the 2017/18 season onwards, this was again called the Blues . In April 2019, the women's team became part of Kiekko Espoo under the leadership of the new manager Emma Terho .

Venue

The women's team played in the ice rink in the Laaksolahti district until 2011, and then in the ice rink in the Leppävaara district until 2016 .

The Blues have been playing in the Espoo Metro Areena in the Tapiola district since 2016 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c HISTORIA: Bluesnaiset. In: bluesespoo.fi. Retrieved September 21, 2017 (Finnish).
  2. ↑ http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/thursdays_papers_cash_for_clunkers_controversy_asylum_seeker_age_probes_and_espoo_hockey_mess/8810534
  3. ↑ https://newtrendsinaccountingandfinance.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/what-does-the-future-hold-for-the-ice-hockey-team-espoo-blues/
  4. ↑ - Espoo Unitedin sarjapaikka Naisten Liigassa Ysikoppi ry: lle. In: leijonat.fi. September 4, 2017, Retrieved September 21, 2017 (Finnish).
  5. ↑ Blues Naiset osaksi Kiekko-Espoo ry: daily: Kiekko-Espoo Naiset. In: kiekko-espoonaiset.fi. April 25, 2019, accessed December 6, 2019 (Finnish).